Twitter unveils top trending tweets of 2010

13 Dec 2010

Twitter has revealed the biggest trends in 2010 out of 25 billion tweets posted, with the Gulf Oil Spill coming in at No 1.

Hitting the No 1 spot in the top 10 overall trends of 2010 was “Gulf Oil Spill,” involving tweets commenting on the BP’s oil spill, the largest accidental marine oil spill in history, which devastated the Gulf of Mexico.

The FIFA World Cup came second, which ran this summer, and in third was hit film Inception, directed by The Dark Knight’s Christopher Nolan and starred Leonardo DiCaprio.

“Apple iPad” was the sixth most trending topic of 2010, followed by “Google Android.” Pop star Justin Bieber came in at No 8, in spite of his overwhelming online popularity.

In tech, the "Apple iPad" and "Google Android" took first and second respectively, followed by "Apple iOS" and "Apple iPhone".

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" was the most tweeted game and "New Twitter" came in at No 6 in the top tweeted tech, due to Twitter’s new layout of the site.

Other top 10s listed included news events, people, movies, television, world cup, sports and hashtags.

News and entertainment

In news events, coming second after the Gulf Oil Spill was the Haiti earthquake, which occurred early in 2010, killing hundreds of thousands.

“Pakistan’s Floods” came third and in fourth was “Korea’s Conflict.” “WikiLeaks Cablegate” came in at No 8.

In people, Justin Bieber was No 1. Dilma Rousseff was No 2 – she was elected Brazil’s first female president this year.

Pop star Lady Gaga was No 3 and Julian Assange of WikiLeaks infamy came in at No 4.

The second most-tweeted movie after Inception was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final instalment of the film adaptations of the popular book series.

The third most trending film was Scott Pilgrim vs the World and fourth was Despicable Me.

The MTV Music Video Awards was No 1 in top tweeted TV, thanks to a Twitter-based marketing campaign for the show. Pretty Little Liars was No 2 and vampire series True Blood was the third most-tweeted show.

In sports, Lebron James was the most tweeted, a US basketball player who faced a backlash after leaving the Cleveland Cavaliers for the Miami Heat. In second was Wimbledon and third was Manchester United.

In the World Cup popular tweets, after the World Cup itself was Vuvuzela, the instrument which annoyed fans across the globe with its blaring noise throughout the games.

The most popular hashtag was “#rememberwhen,” followed by “#slapyourself” and “#confessiontime.”